General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Defending Assange against sexual assault allegations [View all]msanthrope
(37,549 posts)Sweden as a country has struggled over the last 15 years to address the fact that they have a fairly low rate of prosecution for rape. Some of this was due to Swedish law, some due to prosecutorial stance, some due to police procedure and attitudes towards rape victims.
There's a reason that Julian Assange called Sweden "The Saudi Arabia of feminism" though.... this is a problem that Swedish society has decided to fix, and there have been legislators and societal changes in Sweden that reflect changing attitudes about rape.
One thing that's a bit different about Sweden too, is that rape cases are very strictly controlled as to privacy of both the accused and victim.
In that context I have no doubt the head prosecutor...when they took over the case felt enormous political pressure to thoroughly investigate such a public case. But I don't think that political pressure Was because Julian Assange is Julian Assange.... It was because Julian Assange is a high-profile foreign man accused of a crime that is heinous. I think the political pressure is fungible.... There would have been political pressure regarding any high profile incident.
This is a red ball.